Thomas has shed significant weight since retiring

Appearing on NFL Network on Monday, Thomas looked quite different, his face noticeably slimmer. He said he’s lost 50 pounds since officially retiring.

“I was more eager to lose weight than almost anything,” Thomas said.

Joe Thomas stopped having to eat like an offensive lineman, and he doesn’t look like an offensive lineman anymore. (AP)

The 33-year-old, who played most of his career around 310 pounds, played every game and every snap of his career until last Oct. 22 against Tennessee when he tore his triceps while engaged with Brian Orakpo.

‘The weight falls right off’

Thomas doesn’t have a magic diet plan that helped him shed the pounds. Turns out, if you just stop eating as much as you need to maintain that kind of weight as an NFL left tackle – roughly 5,000 calories a day, or over twice what a non-elite-lineman should eat in a day – you get to buy smaller pants.

“You just don’t eat until you feel like you’re going to throw up at every meal and all of a sudden the weight falls right off,” Thomas said.

Given his weight loss, it’s a safe bet that if you were hoping your team would be able to convince Thomas to play one or two more seasons – say, for a team that actually had a chance to get to the playoffs – that’s not going to happen.

Thomas joins other linemen who got skinny post-NFL

Thomas is just the latest offensive lineman to get skinny, relatively speaking, quickly after his playing days ended. Pro Bowl center Matt Birk lost 75 pounds after his retirement several years ago, and more recently, former Chargers center Nick Hardwick lost 85 pounds and Panthers’ left tackle Jordan Gross shed 70 pounds.